


Patience-Testing Poles

by Zetal (Rodinia)



Series: Soulmate Dreams [20]
Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: A Little Too Well Sometimes, Flaws of the Soulmate System, Friends Keeping Secrets For Their Friends, M/M, Soulmate AU, Underage Pole Dancing, Why Does Chris Bring Out The Angst?, it's Chris
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-10
Updated: 2017-04-10
Packaged: 2018-10-17 01:20:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,054
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10583445
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rodinia/pseuds/Zetal
Summary: Christophe's soulmate is everything he could have wanted.  He's cute, he's smart, he's funny, he's got one hell of a streak of mischief.  The only flaw: he's twelve.In five or six years, Christophe's life is going to be awesome.  He just has to survive the five or six years of knowing who his soulmate is and not being able to either tell him or avoid him.I decided not to mark this underage, because while things are discussed, nothing happens until everyone involved is eighteen.  However, if discussion of underage sexuality bothers you, you might want to skip this fic.





	

**Author's Note:**

> A note on "canon": the canon of this 'verse is fluid. You're pretty much free to pick whichever ships you like - the one major exception is Viktuuri. This is the first fic that can't fit into one big canon, because it contradicts Swiss Troll, so I thought I'd mention that.

“Chris? Happy birthday!” Viktor sounded surprised to be hearing from Christophe, which was only fair, really. It was Christophe’s eighteenth birthday, and there was no way Viktor was his soulmate.

Christophe needed advice. Badly. “Viktor, help me. I don’t know what to do.”

“What, bad dream?”

“Not exactly, the dream was… Viktor, the first thing I saw in the dream was a pole. I was pole-dancing. I met my soulmate while pole-dancing.”

Viktor, the bastard, laughed at him. “What were you wearing?”

“Purple booty shorts. And nothing else.”

Viktor laughed harder. It was not helping. “Well, your soulmate got to see your best asset right away.”

“I swear to God, I am going to kill you.”

“Come on, Chris, you know this is hilarious. I didn’t even know you knew how to pole dance!”

“I’ve taken some lessons to help with my core strength and confidence. Actually, you should probably try to get Yuuri to try it. Quite aside from the obvious benefits for you, once he got over the dying of embarrassment stage, it might help him with his confidence level.”

“You have a good point. I’ll talk to him. So, your dream, what happened?”

“What happened is I look over at the other pole and there’s a child hanging from it!”

That finally got Viktor to stop laughing. “Define child.”

“Younger than Yuuri was when you had your dream.”

“Oh. That’s… that’s a little weird. I can see why you’d be freaked out by that.”

“I have no idea if he can dance like that in real life, but in the dream, he was spinning all over the place. I swear he spent more time upside down than not.”

“Which, yay for you… in a few years.”

“Exactly! And to make it worse, I know him.”

“You do?”

“Yes.”

“Do I?”

“Yes. Yes, you do.”

“Hmm. Who is it?”

“Phichit.”

“Yuuri’s friend?”

“Exactly.”

“Yuuri’s friend Phichit is your soulmate.”

“Yes! He’s, what, twelve?”

“I think so. Thirteen in a couple months.”

“My soulmate, who I met while we were POLE DANCING, is twelve.”

“Well, you…” Viktor trailed off. “Actually, I don’t guess you can just ignore him for the next five years, can you. You’re my best friend, Phichit’s Yuuri’s, there’s no way you can ignore him without telling him why, which would defeat the point.”

“Exactly! I can’t tell him we’re soulmates, but how am I supposed to act normally around him?”

“I don’t know.”

“You and Yuuri…”

“Aren’t you and Phichit. All I can tell you is that Yuuri’s so sweet and innocent that it’s very easy for me not to ask him for anything he’s not ready for, but Phichit… he is now, but there’s no guarantee he stays that way. My dad was able to stay away and wait for Mom to come to him, so no advice there, either.”

“Damn. My parents were close in age, and I don't really have anyone else I'm close enough to for this discussion.”

“At least you’re not me and actually will be able to keep quiet about it.”

Christophe hadn't even thought of that. Viktor was a wonderful human being and Christophe loved him, but he was not good at secrets. “Are you going to be able to keep quiet?”

“Who’s going to ask me who your soulmate is?”

“Reporters? Once they realize I’m not talking, they know you’re my best friend?”

“Good point. All I can promise is that I’ll try.”

 

Viktor did an admirable job. Any time someone asked, Viktor had a prepared statement: “Chris is my best friend and I would like to keep it that way. If he won’t answer questions about his soulmate, I’m not going to either.”

Christophe was able to act normally and behave himself perfectly for over three years. It’s not like he flirted too outrageously with anyone under eighteen, so if he didn’t flirt with Phichit much, it didn’t stand out as unusual.

The summer Phichit was sixteen, Yuuri and Viktor invited several of their friends out to visit Hasetsu with them. Christophe and Phichit both came, and the night they arrived, the four of them went down to the beach for a bonfire after a wonderful dinner of katsudon.

“Hey, Yuuri!” Phichit nudged his friend. “Have you ever taken any pole dancing classes?”

Viktor spat out his beer, and Christophe thought he was going to choke. Yuuri turned a lovely bright red. “No! Why… why would you ask that?”

“Because! I think it might be good for you!” Phichit looked curiously at Viktor. “Something wrong, Viktor?”

“No. No, everything’s fine.” Viktor’s voice was a little higher than usual, and he was definitely avoiding Chris’s eyes.

“I don’t see how dying of embarrassment is supposed to be good for me…” Yuuri said.

“Well, it’s just, my instructor said that when she first started, she was incredibly shy and hated her body. After a while, it made her more confident in herself. It made me think of you." Yuuri's redness started to fade a little, and Phichit grinned. "It’s a great workout, too!”

“Did you say your instructor? You’re taking pole dancing lessons?” Yuuri asked.

“Yeah! I just started right after my birthday, so about six weeks now? It’s fun! My instructor says I’m a natural, but that’s probably just…" Christophe choked again, and this time, Phichit must have heard something. "Chris? Are you okay?”

Christophe got to his feet and ran. When he finally slowed down, he heard footsteps and heavy breathing behind him. He turned around, hoping it wasn’t Phichit. He couldn’t deal with that. Thankfully, it was Viktor. “Sorry. I just couldn’t…”

“I know.” Viktor patted his shoulder reassuringly.

“I’m going to have to explain, I suppose?”

“Probably. I told Yuuri and Phichit to stay there, but they’re going to want to know what’s going on eventually.”

Christophe sighed. “Damn. Wait, Yuuri doesn’t know?”

“No? You didn’t tell him, did you?”

“I kind of assumed you would.”

Viktor gave him a wounded look. “I am capable of keeping a secret, you know.”

Christophe knew. Viktor had done a great job. He was just surprised. “From Yuuri?”

“Yes, from Yuuri!" Christophe was still a little skeptical, so Viktor admitted, "He knows that I know, but that you’re not telling anyone, so he’s never asked.”

“Huh.” Christophe had finally caught his breath from his run, as had Viktor. “Come on. Before Yuuri convinces himself that this is his fault.”

Viktor laughed. “I don’t know how he could.”

Yuuri and Phichit looked very relieved to see that Christophe was okay when he and Viktor got back. “I’m sorry. Whatever happened, I’m sorry,” Yuuri said.

Christophe and Viktor exchanged a look, Christophe smirking, Viktor exasperated. Christophe took his seat and turned to face Phichit. Thankfully, he’d practiced regularly, so that he’d be ready when the time came. He said the phrase Phichit had taught him in the dream.

Yuuri and Phichit both started giggling. “Do you have any idea what you just said?” Phichit asked. “Because I can’t believe it’s what you meant to say.”

Chris turned a little pink. “You said you’d translate it for me when you heard it. Why? What did I say?”

Yuuri started giggling harder, but Phichit immediately sobered up. “Would this have been about three years ago?”

“Yes.”

“Like…”

“Yes.”

“Wow.”

Christophe's flush deepened a little. “So… you said you’d translate?”

“Hamster farts smell like cookies," Phichit said with a shit-eating grin.

Viktor started snickering. Even Christophe had to smile at that. “Well, you did promise me it wasn’t something dirty.”

Phichit's smile faded as he studied Christophe. “What I don’t get is why you picked now.”

“Well, see…" Christophe rubbed his neck. "It’s the pole dancing. I’ve seen you dancing before.”

“You… oh.” Phichit’s eyes widened. “Awkward.”

“Yeah.” Chris cleared his throat. "I have to say, I agree with your instructor."

“Phichit? What’s going on?” Yuuri asked.

Phichit turned to look at Yuuri. “The next two years are going to be incredibly awkward. You and Viktor never seemed to have any trouble, but Chris and I…”

Yuuri tilted his head, staring quizzically at Phichit. It was extremely clear the second Yuuri figured it out. “Oh, wow. You know, it’s legal if you’re soulmates, and it would be hard for anyone to argue that you don’t know what you’re doing…”

Chris shook his head. “What was it you and Viktor kept saying? Legal isn’t the same as right?”

“That was me and Viktor. You’re different. If it feels right to you…”

“That’s the thing, it doesn’t. I just want it to." Chris glanced at Phichit, who nodded in agreement.

 

The next two years were awkward. As long as they weren’t physically together, Phichit and Christophe flirted shamelessly over Skype and text. When they were together, though, it was awkward. They could barely talk to each other. Viktor and Yuuri did their best to help, distracting them with fun or skating, and they brought the rest of their rinkmates in on the plan. Mila in particular was very helpful.

Worlds 2014 was fun. It was Phichit’s first Worlds as a senior skater, and Christophe ended up beating Yuuri for silver behind Viktor’s gold. Phichit was thrilled with his final place of 13th.

Christophe and Phichit talked daily over Skype after that, until April 29th. That day, Phichit went dark. No updates to any of his social media, which was so unlike him that Christophe called Yuuri in a panic. Yuuri reassured him that Phichit was all right, that he was sure there was a good reason for Phichit to be silent, but he didn’t sound entirely convincing.

Christophe stayed up as late as he could force himself to. Phichit would probably call when he woke up, and Thailand was five hours ahead of Switzerland. He finally crashed around four in the morning, phone still clutched in his hand.

When the doorbell rang at 7:30, Christophe was Not Happy. He opened the door, and barely registered the fact that there was a person there before that person was throwing himself onto Christophe and kissing him. Christophe shoved him off.

Phichit didn’t seem too upset about the reaction. Actually, he looked downright pleased. “Surprise!”

“Phichit? What are you doing here?”

“It’s my birthday, and I wanted to spend it with my soulmate. I had the best dream ever on the flight out here, too.”

“You had your dream on an airplane? That must have been awkward…”

Phichit shrugged. “Not really. It didn’t seem fair to do too much that I’d remember and you wouldn’t.”

Christophe stared at Phichit, who sported the evilest grin Christophe had ever seen. “You’re joking.”

“Nope.” Phichit moved closer, his face becoming less teasing and more open as he wrapped his arms around Chris’s neck. “I know the last couple years have been hard for you. Much more for you than for me. If you could do that, I could survive one night.”

“And I just went along with that?”

The mischief came right back into Phichit’s eyes. “Oh, hell no, you tried every trick you could think of to change my mind. If I didn’t know I’d be here today, I couldn’t have held out.”

Christophe chuckled. “You could have warned me. I stayed up almost all night so I’d be awake when you woke up.”

Phichit blinked. “I figured you’d panic when I went dark on social media and call Yuuri and he’d tell you what I was doing.”

“I did panic and call Yuuri, but you underestimated your friend’s ability to keep a secret. All he’d tell me was that you were fine and he was sure I’d hear from you soon.”

Phichit laughed. “Dammit, Yuuri. Sorry. I guess you probably want to go back to bed?”

“Yep. I know you slept on the flight, but even so… come with me. How long are you here?”

“I told Celestino I’d be gone a week. He said to call and warn him if I decided to stay longer.”

Christophe looked at the backpack on Phichit’s back. “That’s all you brought?”

“I wasn’t exactly expecting to need much, and what I was expecting to need doesn't exactly take up much space…” Phichit barely managed to keep a straight face, and he finally cracked as he realized he'd left Christophe speechless. “My other bag’s outside."


End file.
